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A Real to Reel interview: Los Campesinos!

By Dan Ochwat

When combing through the Lollapalooza schedule (which I help you tackle on the preceding page), you will come across Los Campesinos! at 2:15 p.m., day three, to be exact, but don’t be alarmed! This is not a mariachi band! This is seven kids from Cardiff, Wales, who play fun, funny, catchy, circusy Brit pop! (OK, enough fun with the exclamation points.)

Seriously, this group became a bit of a blogger buzz band online, one I came across and fell in love with after one song — the very danceable “You! Me! Dancing!” Although other songs I downloaded secured me as a fan, too.

For credibility, just look to Arts & Crafts (the label that gives you Feist and Broken Social Scene), who released, on July 3, the group’s debut EP titled “Sticking Fingers into Sockets,” produced by BSS’ own mad genius, David Newfeld.

Los Campesinos! are playing Chicago — and very likely the U.S. — for the first time ever at Lollapalooza. With hilarious songs like, “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives,” and a vibe in the vein of Architecture in Helsinki, I’m making this my go-to show. I spoke with the all too modest Tom Campesinos! (guitar and vocals) about the bright-eyed band’s upcoming trip to the overwhelming Perry Ferrell Fest.

Q: For those unfamiliar with you guys, describe your sound.
A: Er, it’s sort of difficult to describe your own sound without listing a bunch of clichés or sounding pompous. But maybe clichés and pomp are appropriate. It’s basically pop music, with “pop” used in the most general of ways. It’s upbeat, often over the top, with lots of arrangements and a huge fondness for melody.

Q: What can we expect from the live show?
A: Because we don’t have too much choice in the matter, we tend to privilege energy over a technically accurate rendition of the songs. I guess we’re pretty selfish in the sense that we prioritize having fun ourselves in the hope that this will translate to the audience. But expect us to be shit, and then at least your hopes aren’t too high.

Q: Have you played Chicago before?
A: Heck no. We’re still coming to terms with playing shows outside of Cardiff; a show in America is stupidly surreal.

Q: Is this festival a little nerve-racking? The audience is so broad from scenesters to, literally, the guy who was standing next to me last year and asked who Broken Social Scene was. I was shocked, but the guy said he was going to buy all of their albums, so you can grab some ears.
A: It’ll be nerve-racking for sure, but I think having an audience that hasn’t seen us before also takes the pressure off a bit. We don’t ever expect people to like us, or to enjoy our live sets, so any positive feedback is a massive bonus. That’s not empty self-effacement by the way; we’ll be genuinely pleased if anyone likes us!

Q: Will you be a band that checks out other acts, or are you going to hide out backstage?
A: For sure, we only agreed to play so we can watch the other bands. I think it would be silly to miss the opportunity to see TV on the Radio. I’d like to see My Morning Jacket, Apostle of Hustle, Ted Leo and Yo La Tengo again.

Q: Talk about the growing popularity of your band. Am I correct that you’ve only released a couple songs online, so you’ve had very little out in the ether, but they’ve made waves, and here you are talking to a stooge in Chicago? Is this crossover success all unexpected?
A: Yeah, it’s strange isn’t it? We recorded four songs as demos and made them available for download on the internet, have had a couple more in the form of a BBC session, and have just had our second single out here. There’s an EP that collates most of those songs together coming out (July 3). But yes, it’s all happened at a dizzying rate. It’s sort of difficult to comprehend in so many ways, but I guess having the internet open us up to people all over the world is the obvious reasoning. But also, the current musical climate seems to be defined by a relentless desire for something new all the time, so things seem to move at lightning speed, and maybe we’re just another ephemeral bit of pop. We’ve tried to not get too caught up in the speed of things though, and do everything at our own pace. We were always determined not to drop out of University, so I guess that forced a slightly slower pace on things. And I wouldn’t say you are a stooge.

Q: “You Me Dancing” just charges me. What was the evolution of that song? When did you first record it, and when did it catch fire?
A: It started as an instrumental demo with the chorus riff being repeated over and over in one long build-up/climax, and some vocal samples of children that I’d pilfered off the internet layered over the top.

Then, in the approach to our first gig, it was structured into a more conventional pop format, albeit a six-and-a-half-minute one, with Gareth’s vocals layered over the top. We always wanted a noise bit at the beginning, as I like the idea of contrasting that with a poppier sound, but the intro was improvised as we recorded, with all sorts of violin parts being layered over the top. And it never felt necessary to shorten it to a more conventional length either, as everything we wanted to feature, both musically and vocally, fitted those six-and-a-half minutes perfectly, in our opinion.

Q: Am I overstating this because I’m obsessed with the song? Do you feel like it’s become a hit?
A: (Laughs) Um, I don’t know if we could call it a hit, as it hasn’t been on the charts and is unlikely to ever enter the charts. But, it’s certainly been the catalyst that has got us into the situation we’re in now. Although, I’d like to hope people like some of our other songs, too, but maybe that’s too idealistic, and we’ll just have to settle with having a “Creep” of our own.

Q: Do you have a full record coming out in the States and if so, when?
A: We’re pretty ill-informed about such things, but it’s being recorded this summer and will be out in the UK in February, I think. So I imagine it shouldn’t be too long after that that you lucky folks can get your grubby mitts on it too.

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